Nokia executive: youths “fed up” with iPhones, Androids too complex

When you can’t beat them with products, you can beat them with words. It seems that that’s the kind of approach taking over at Nokia as competition from both Android and the iPhone tightens up. The Street expects Apple to deliver another record breaking quarter with iPhone sales nearing 30 million, and Samsung has just announced it’s already sold 300 million phones with such success fueled by the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy S series, but Niels Munksgaard, Director of Portfolio, Product Marketing & Sales at Nokia Entertainment, begs to differ.

The executive thinks that in reality, iPhones and Androids are not popular with one particular group:

“What we see is that youth are pretty much fed up with iPhones. Everyone has the iPhone,” Munksgaard said in an interview with British tech blog Pocket-lint. “Also, many are not happy with the complexity of Android and the lack of security. So we do increasing see that the youth that wants to be on the cutting edge and try something new are turning to the Windows Phone platform.”

Of course, that’s where Nokia would fit in. Interestingly, Munksgaard also complains about the lack of differentiation in products.

“The marketplace is extremely crowded. I refer to it as the sea of sameness," he said. "When you walk up to a retail shelf at Phones4U and see the number of black mono-blocks sitting on the shelf, it is very confusing to the consumer. We want to deliver services and phones that are different.”

Nokia indeed has tried to differentiate in the Windows Phone world with apps like Nokia Mix Radio, but by large you’d find it hard to tell a Nokia Windows Phone UI apart from all others as Microsoft keeps a tight grip on that.

The Finns were dethroned from the smartphone throne by both Samsung and Apple in recent quarters, and are eager to regain their positions. With this said, what’s your opinion on the market, are you content with the customization you get on a Nokia Windows Phone? Are you or your younger pals “fed up” with the iPhone and Android?

That is why Android and iOS combined control 80%+ of the U.S. smartphone market - because of the complexity. Yeah, right. Keep it up, and Nokia will be joining RIM in the race for failed business model.

LOOL! I'm fed up with smartphones in general, especially Android powered ones... My LG OPTIMUS BLACK has grown weaker by the month, Android Gingerbread has worn out it's innards, So I got a Nokia 701, & it works pretty good, I saw one on youtube running 33 apps without stuttering, though I haven't bothered to stress mine that much.... I just like the seriousness that have gotten into Nokia this year, and I give credit to Accenture for giving us Symbian^Belle...

its all about marketing and availabilty....Nokia's been silent even when symbian was thier main platform while Android was marketed now Android is the standard(which was symbian's position)..Nokia, new comer....iPhone @ the top(in terms of quality which we all know Android lacks)

People buy Android phones because their friends cooked up fairy tales about Android OS. 70% of FANdroids use low-end devices, so they don't really get the real Android experience & most of them I know are fed up. But I don't think people are fed up with iOS though...

even I bought Android on the advices of my friends and family and ANDROID IS PATHETIC!! I've "Samsung Galaxy S2" and its Awfully pathetic even when u hold it in your palms u never get the feel of holding an expensive device. Bloody Bugger!!
I seriously Trust & love Nokia or HTC phones!

Trends come & go, market shares rise & fall.... And those market shares are ESTIMATES... In the real world, there are more Symbian powered phones than any other OS.... Stop thinking like a fish, the world is made up of 7billion people, U.S.A isn't the WORLD!

There's no "symbian version" on dumbphones. S40 used on Nokia's dumbphones has a bit similar UI, but it has nothing to do with Symbian, and phones running it are not counting among Symbian ones. The fact is, that Symbian is the most used mobile OS in the world:http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_os-ww-monthly-200911-201112

53.hepresearch (unregistered)

nope... not correct... Java is, well, Java... from Oracle.

Symbian is actually a derivative of EPOC, which started developing in the 1990's as the OS for Psion PDA devices, and eventually was renamed "Symbian" at version 6.0, when it became officially open-source. The first Symbian smartphones were an obscure Ericsson device that I do not remember exactly (R380, I think...), and the Nokia 9210 Communicator with Series 80.

In 2002, Series 60 started out as a UI overlay for Symbian phones, adopted first by Nokia for Symbian 6.1 on the Nokia 7650, and the appearance and navigation of Series 60 was actually the basis of Series 40, in a rather loose interpretation, as well. Series 40, though, came out after Series 60 and ran on Java, not Symbian, in order to provide better feature phone experiences at the time (replacing early Series 30 builds and other proprietary Nokia UI's). Nokia also introduced the proprietary Series 80 and Series 90 UI's for Symbian 6.0 and 7.0s, which did not garner as much popularity, and were later rolled back into Series 60 in its 3rd and 5th editions, then renamed "S60" (Symbian 9.1 through 9.4).

Sony Ericsson also used Symbian for their early smartphones (pre-Android) along with the UIQ platform. Eventually UIQ was discontinued, and rolled into Symbian^3 (Symbian 9.5) in 2010, along with the discontinued S60 3rd and 5th Editions.

Symbian^2 was developed to work with the MOAP(S) UI on many Japanese FOMA phones in 2010, replacing the use of earlier versions of Symbian (7.0, 8.1b, 9.1, 9.2) as the underpinning for MOAP(S) over the years.

Symbian Belle is the latest build of the so-called Symbian^3, but it is technically Symbian version 10. I imagine it will be the last of Symbian we ever see.

So, Symbian is, in fact, a smartphone platform that competed mostly with Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and BlackBerry... and in recent years attempted to compete with iOS and Android, but to no avail. Hence the replacement of Symbian^3 with Windows Phone Mango...

51.thatdude1 (unregistered)

so.. apple and android's record sales quarter after record sales quarter indicate that people dont want either huh? And android's "lack of security"... find proof of that please.
Sounds like some negative company advertising to me.

I'm never fed up of this smartphone war. I just want to see how Nokia would get of this mess. Considering they have years of experience in mobile industry and suddenly they started fading.
I like the fact that Android is open linux, since i have both Windows 7 and Linux Mint on my pc.
But I was also surprised when MS Announce Windows Phone with those live tiles design. Dunno why, i got a good feeling about Nokia & MS WP.

Android makes the most technologically edgy phones (I know the OS doesn't determine the hardware, but the manufacturers are pushing flashy device with all the bells and whistles) + Saturated market calls for lower price points + strong Ad campaign, especially to start off + developer support and increasing popularity of "open source"... DEMAND remains HIGH.

Apple has created a culture for their phones. The OS is simple and has remained unchanged so the stupidest of users can feel like smartphone masters. Older generations are buying the iPhone as well. You can cover the next iPhone in dung and call it Siri and people hail that is is the GREATEST thing in the world (Oh, wait)... DEMAND remains CONSISTENT (until new iteration of product).

Windows in my opinion is the strongest platform. Best of both world's strengths and almost none of the flaws. There is loads of catching up to do, but MSFT has delivered a beautiful platform with a promising business model... DEMAND will INCREASE EXPONENTIALLY once word hits the street.

Android makes the most technologically edgy phones (I know the OS doesn't determine the hardware, but the manufacturers are pushing flashy device with all the bells and whistles).
To some extent, especialy with processor specs, but it is also becuase Android is the least efficient OS platform right now and Windows Phone, IOs, Symbian all perform much better on lower hardware resources than andoroid phones do. And those beefy processors come at a cost of battery life.

Completely agree with your last statement though, it is a beautiful platform (almost as beautiful as MeeGo/Harmattan) and once it's done some feature catchup (like both IOs and Android had to do when they were new) It will sell very well. I fully expect my next phone on contract to be a windows phone (hopefully with the words Nokia Lumia in the name).

30.hepresearch (unregistered)

Just remember, the market differs in different parts of the world. IN much of Europe, blackberry's have been as much the teen phone of choice as the businessman because of BBM.

Also context - no-one said Apple and Android products aren't massively successful, they just said they are not as successful with teens because of android complexity and boredom with apple. Of course these devices are still hugely popular, but unless you have a usage breakdown by age group, the guys comment can neither be confirmed or ridiculed.

However, if you are 11-18 feel free to say what you and your friends mostly use.

PA - the sea of sameneess comment was clearly directed towards hardware - the black monoblocks. Hence Nokia Lumia 800 in different colors, 710 with changeable backs etc. Software wise, yes, Windows Phone is basically the same but then so are most platforms and blogs like this one and Engadget at least, disapprove of Sense, TouchWiz and other Ui customizations on android. I'm sure more software differentiation will come in Apollo.

However, I do agree that the luster is eventually going to wear down on the iPhone for youths. The choice is far too limited for the ongoing trend of customizing to personal taste. Something the younger generation loves to do.

ive an iphone 4 and a nokia lumia 800 for which just recently i switched my android devices after a number of years. in terms of features & functionalities, based on my experience, android rules by a long mile. i can list them from the major to the detail ones which make using a smartphone a whole lot easier, but it'll take a whole page. why left android, you might ask...like everyone else, android freezes, stutters, apps force-close, and buggy. the only thing complex in android is the "settings" but thats just minor, otherwise like i said, it has the best features/functionalities. of course, i will go back to android, if only they fix those issues, and looks ics does that to a great extent.

well , nokia was and will stay the trusty phone in the hand of a poor farmer in some indian village or a construction worker in some china building site or even any europian geek , nokia knows that not everyone can handle a pricey or a complicated phone , no one can deny that the 1100 model was the most selling unit all over the world and at the same time the do great hardware phones ( remember n73 , n82 the best camera phone and the joyfull 5800 ) , symbian is a little old but the belle virsion is really cool and good . the n9 platform was great , nokia know how they contain everything , not everyone like the iphone or android , it's a matter of taste and remember , u can sell more units in asia , africa , south america than europe and usa , hey , 65% of the people in this world r not rich ( I wont say poor ) .

Eh, I think it's premature and inaccurate to say that the youth are getting fed up with iOS and Android. Like all things, they probably will get bored of those products eventually and try something else, but it's all just about what is popular among their peers. Right now, like it or hate it, Android and iOS are far more popular among the youth.

All content (phone reviews, news, specs, info), design and layouts are Copyright 2001-2015 phoneArena.com. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part or in any form or medium without written permission is prohibited! Privacy . Terms of use . Cookies . Team